Somewhere between the private plunge pool, the village visit and the lodge that nobody has apparently discovered yet, tourism started to sound rather familiar. We have wonderful people, places and experiences to talk about yet we often describe them using the same small collection of words: authentic, hidden gem and luxury.
They appear in our brochures, websites, presentations and itineraries promising travellers something real, undiscovered and special. They have worked so hard, in fact, that perhaps they deserve a little break. The problem is not that these words are necessarily untrue. It is that we may be asking them to carry too much of the story.
Perhaps the words are not the story. Maybe they are only where the story should begin.
Authentic
Few words have put in more overtime than authentic…
A lodge can be authentic. A meal can be authentic. A village visit, a walk, a safari and even a beautifully prepared welcome drink can all somehow qualify. But authenticity is not created by adding a woven basket to a room or serving dinner beside a fire. It usually appears in the moments nobody has planned. It is the guide who stops beside a tree and shares a story because that tree means something to him. It is the owner who joins guests at breakfast and is still talking when the coffee has gone cold. It is the unexpected conversation, the family recipe or the laughter that needs no translation. These moments do not need to be labelled authentic. When something is genuine, people usually feel it.
Perhaps the story becomes stronger when we describe who is there, what happens and why it matters and allow the reader to decide what feels authentic.
Hidden gem
Tourism has discovered an impressive number of hidden gems. Strangely, many of them now have websites, Instagram accounts and online booking systems.
We understand the appeal of the phrase. It suggests somewhere special, away from the crowds and not yet found by everybody else. But it does not quite explain why the place deserves a traveller’s time. Is it the family who has welcomed guests for generations? A guide who knows every path and story? A landscape that changes completely with the season? A small business doing something nobody else offers? Those details are far more interesting than simply being hidden.
There is also a contradiction in promoting a place because very few people visit it while hoping that many more people will begin to visit. What happens when the gem is no longer hidden? Who benefits from the new attention and who carries the pressure it creates?
Perhaps a place does not need to be undiscovered to be special. It just needs its story to be told well.
Luxury
Luxury tourism has its own familiar language: high thread counts, tasting menus, private plunge pools and towels folded so beautifully that nobody is quite sure whether they are allowed to use them. There is nothing wrong with any of this. Most of us would happily accept the plunge pool. But some of the most luxurious moments in travel have very little to do with what is waiting in the room.
Luxury can be a guide switching off the safari vehicle and saying, “Let’s stay a little longer.” It can be silence, space and having nowhere else to be. It can be someone noticing that a guest is tired and quietly changing the day instead of insisting on following the itinerary. It can simply be enough time to watch, listen and become curious.
Perhaps the greatest luxury is not having more around us. It is having enough time to notice where we are.
Perhaps the story is enough
Authentic, hidden gem and luxury can all describe something real. Perhaps they simply work better when we do not leave them to carry the whole story on their own.
An experience described as authentic becomes more interesting when we meet the people behind it. A hidden gem becomes worth finding when we understand what makes it different. Luxury becomes more personal when it is described as time, attention and space rather than only what is waiting in the room.
And perhaps we can allow a view to be beautiful without insisting that it is breathtaking. Guests may need their breath for the hike. Perhaps our stories have been interesting enough all along. We may simply need to trust them a little more and send the clichés on a well-earned, luxurious and authentic holiday to a hidden gem.
